Jacob Christian Jacobsen (2 September 1811 – 30 April 1887), mostly known as J. C. Jacobsen, was a
Danish industrialist
A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...
and philanthropist best known for founding the brewery
Carlsberg.
Biography
He had no formal academic or scientific training (although he had attended some lectures by
Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted (; 14 August 1777 – 9 March 1851), sometimes Transliteration, transliterated as Oersted ( ), was a Danish chemist and physicist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields. This phenomenon is known as ...
). In the 1840s, he had come to realise that production of beer, which had until then been done in numerous small
breweries
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
, now had to be based on the scientific method in order to be industrialized.
Starting in 1847, he established his brewery Carlsberg in
Valby on the outskirts of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, on a site where it has remained since. He named the brewery after his son,
Carl Jacobsen. Being extremely vigorous in the pursuit of producing high quality beer, he founded the
Carlsberg Laboratory in 1875.
He took much interest in public affairs and supported the
National Liberal Party – becoming gradually more conservative – both as a
Member of Parliament for some periods between 1854 and 1871 and as a strong supporter of the Danish defense. He served on the
Copenhagen City Council
The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall.
The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' tasks. ...
from 1843 to 1857. Moreover he was a well-known patron of the arts. After the fire of
Frederiksborg Palace in 1859, he funded the reconstruction efforts.
In 1876, Jacobsen founded the
Carlsberg Foundation () which he endowed with a controlling stake in Carlsberg, due to family tensions. A bitter conflict with his son Carl led to the latter's foundation of the (New Carlsberg) Brewery 1882. A reconciliation was however obtained in 1886.
His son
Carl Jacobsen collected one of the largest private art collections during his time. It is now housed in the
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root ''glyphein'', to carve, and ''theke'', storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection ...
, a museum founded by him in Copenhagen.
Personal life
Jacobsen was married to Laura Cathrine Holst (1819–1911) and was the father of Carl Jacobsen (1842–1919). In 1879, he became an honorary doctor of the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University.
...
Faculty of Science and in 1884 he was bestowed Commander 1st class of the
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...
, a Danish order of chivalry.
See also
*
Carlsberg Breweries
*
Carlsberg Laboratory
*
Carlsberg Foundation
*
Carlsberg (district)
References
Literature
*
Danish brewers
Danish industrialists
19th-century Danish businesspeople
19th-century Copenhagen City Council members
Carlsberg Group people
Danish food and drink company founders
Danish philanthropists
Businesspeople from Copenhagen
1811 births
1887 deaths
19th-century philanthropists
Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog
19th-century industrialists
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